Dover's lifeboat covers what is probably the busiest stretch of water around the UK coast. The lifeboat responds not only to incidents in the channel but may also be requested by HM Coastguard to attend emergencies that happen on the shoreline.

Over the last twenty five years Dover lifeboat has received an average of 40 call outs per year.

Use the links below to access details of service calls from 2000 onwards or here for those in 2009.

The graphs below shows the number of service and standby calls Dover lifeboat and crew have responded to since 1982. The first details just the total calls and the second shows the last ten years in more detail.

Whilst no two service calls are ever the same, some for various reasons become more notable and some of these are described here.